Farmers block tracks, 54 trains on Ambala-Amritsar route cancelled

Ambala/Patiala, April 20

A total of 54 trains on the Ambala-Amritsar route were cancelled on Saturday as farmers squatted on tracks at the Shambhu railway station in Patiala district of Punjab for the fourth day, officials said.

In Ferozepur division, 96 trains were affected due to the farmers’ protest. The protesters are demanding the release of three farmers arrested by the Haryana Police during the ongoing stir. The protest had affected the movement of 380 trains in the past three days, causing inconvenience to passengers, the officials said. The “rail roko” protest is being organised by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

Protesting farm leaders said a special girdawari should be conducted by the state government to assess the crop loss suffered by farmers due to hailstorm that lashed many parts of the state and interim compensation should be released to the affected farmers.

The protesters are demanding the release of the three farmers — Navdeep Singh, Anish Khatkar and Gurkirat Singh — who were arrested in February and March by the Haryana Police.

The farm leaders said in case the three farmers were not released by April 21, a panchayat would be organised in Jind district on April 22 over the issue. They said the protest would continue till the farmers were released.

Farm leader Sarwan Singh Pandher alleged that the trio was implicated in a false case and the protest would continue till the farmers were released by the Haryana Police.